Opinion: Site C builds on B.C. hydroelectric legacy

Built at a cost of $750 million, the WAC Bennett dam produces about 40 per cent of B.C.’s electricity.

More than 3,000 people attended a public event in Hudson’s Hope in 1968 to watch Premier W.A.C. Bennett switch on the power at the dam.

Brad Bennett is a B.C. businessman and corporate director and is a member of the board of directors of BC Hydro.

The Halfway River entering the Peace River between Hudson’s Hope and Fort St. John. BC Hydro wants to put a third dam on the Peace at Site C.

Watson Slough, an important wetland for birds, would be flooded by BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam.

Anti-Site C Rally at Fort St. JohnPNG
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Should Site C proceed, BC Hydro plans to build a berm 1.8 kilometres long and 10 metres high to protect Hudson´s Hope, including these museum buildings, from slipping into the Peace River. The reservoir, which would flood 83 kilometres of the Peace, would worsen the situation.

BC Hydro is proposing to build the Site C Clean Energy Project in the Peace River in northeast B.C.screen
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It was 45 years ago this fall that the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and G.M. Shrum Generating Station began producing electricity for British Columbians.

It was a significant engineering achievement in 1968 and more than 3,000 people attended a public event in Hudson’s Hope to watch my grandfather, premier W.A.C. Bennett, switch on the power at the facility.

The milestone event was the realization of a visionary two-rivers policy to harness the hydroelectric potential of B.C.’s Peace and Columbia rivers. To accomplish this, BC Hydro was created in 1962 to undertake some of the most ambitious hydro-electric construction projects in the world.

In the two decades that followed its creation, BC Hydro planned and built a series of hydro-electric dams and generating stations on the two rivers. The last large hydro-electric facility built in B.C. was the Revelstoke Dam, which was opened in 1985 by the B.C. government, led by my father, Premier Bill Bennett. The Peace Canyon Dam was the last facility completed on the Peace River, in 1980.

The implementation of the two-rivers policy was about more than generating electricity; it was about strategically building our province’s economy. The B.C. government of the day understood that abundant, renewable and cost-effective electricity was the cornerstone of economic development. It worked. B.C. quickly became recognized as an attractive place to invest and the economy grew alongside this hydroelectric development.

Today, these hydro-electric facilities are still providing power to British Columbians, decades after they were built and paid for. Combined, the Peace and Columbia facilities produce about 80 per cent of BC Hydro’s total annual energy.

These historic investments have benefited generations of British Columbians — people and businesses — by providing affordable power and allowing us to avoid relying on coal-fired or nuclear power like so many other jurisdictions in the world.

But, as impressive as B.C.’s hydro-electric heritage is, it will not be enough to meet the long-term electricity needs of our province, even with BC Hydro’s aggressive conservation targets. Our electricity needs are forecast to increase by about 40 per cent in the next 20 years, and choices need to be made today about how to best meet this growing demand.

That’s why BC Hydro is proposing to build the Site C Clean Energy Project, a third dam and hydro-electric generating station on the Peace River in northeast B.C.

Building on the success of B.C.’s historic two-rivers policy, Site C would rely on the existing Williston Reservoir for its water storage. This provides significant efficiencies for the BC Hydro system. By passing along water already flowing through BC Hydro’s two upstream facilities on the Peace River, Site C would provide over a third of the energy produced at the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, with a reservoir that is one-twentieth the size.

Site C would provide a very large amount of energy for a mid-size dam, enough to power the equivalent of about 450,000 homes per year. This electricity would be clean and renewable, producing among the lowest levels of greenhouse gas emissions compared to other options.

Even before Site C starts producing power, it would provide significant economic benefits, creating thousands of jobs in the region and across the province, and bolstering the provincial economy with a $3.2 billion increase in GDP during construction.

All new electricity-generation projects have environmental impacts and Site C is no different. That’s why the project is going through a rigorous and independent federal and provincial environmental assessment process. This process includes public hearings overseen by an independent joint review panel.

Many years ago, my grandfather’s vision for harnessing our hydro-electric potential was met with a lot of skepticism. Today, that vision is perhaps his greatest legacy. It’s time to build on our hydroelectric legacy and move ahead with Site C. Future generations will be glad we did.

Brad Bennett is a B.C. businessman and corporate director and is a member of the board of directors of BC Hydro.

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